"What do you wish to know?" he asked.
"Your feeder told us that I killed your former menagerie," she said.
"How do you know it to be true?" He lifted his chin.
"I felt each of them die, by your hand.
One a day until they were no more." "Truth," agreed Wulfe in a tone I hadn't heard from him before.
It made me look.
He sat with Estelle collapsed at his feet, Lily leaning against one side, and Bernard sitting stiffly on the other.
Wulfe's face was somber and ...
sad.
"You are no longer of this seethe." "I am no longer of this seethe," Stefan agreed coolly.
"Truth," said Wulfe.
"You were never mine, really," she told him.
"You had always your free will." "Always," he agreed.
"And you used that to hide Mercy from me.
From justice." "I hid her from you because I judged her no risk to you or the seethe." "Truth," murmured Wulfe.
"You hid her because you liked her." "Yes," agreed Stefan.
"And because there would be no justice in her death.
She had not killed one of us--and would not, except that you set that task to her." For the first time since he sat in the chair, he looked directly at her.
"You asked her to kill the monster you could not find--and she did it.
Twice." "Truth." "She killed Andre!" Marsilia's voice rose to a roar, and power echoed in it and through the room we were in.
The lights dimmed a little, then regained their former wattage.
Stefan smiled sourly at her.
"Because there was no choice.
We left her no choice--you, I, and Andre." "Truth." "You chose her over me," Marsilia said, and her power lit the air with strangeness.
I took a step closer to Adam and shivered.
"You knew she hunted Andre, knew she'd killed him--and you hid what she did from me.
You forced me to torture you and destroy your power base.
You must answer to me." Her voice thundered, vibrating the floor and rattling the walls.
The suspended lights drifted back and forth, making shadows play.
"Not anymore," said Stefan.